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Date Posted: 16:44:16 02/06/03 Thu
Author: Sam Moore
Author Host/IP: webcacheB15a.cache.pol.co.uk / 195.92.168.177
Subject: Favourite Shawn Lane song?

For a while now, one of my listening habits has been to listen from "Trois Sep Cinq" through to the end of "The Tr-Tone Fascination". These sequence of songs are just perfect. The beautiful melodies, the seamless transistions, the unison singing, the melliflous guitar lines: everything is just perfect!

I think his phrasing on some of these songs is the best I have ever heard on a guitar. For example, the intro to "The Way It Has To Be". Or the slides in "Song For Dianne", or the vibrato in the electric "Epilogue for Lisa". He really makes his guitar sing.

I think what makes all this possible is his approach to music. Instead of changing how he plays on an instrument (i.e changing his style to fit within the confines of the instrument) he has one apporach which is evident in all his playing. For example, compare the keyboard solo at the end of "Not Again" with the earlier guitar work. The phrasing is very similar. I think the prominence of keyboards in his compositions puts him on a level that other guitarists can't reach and gives his albums a unique sound quite unlike your typical "shred guitar instrumental album".

What always amazes me is how many ideas he can have in one song and how he can present them simultaneously. For example, the way the keyboards and guitar interact is like a flock of birds: perpetually moving, gliding gracefully around each other but never clashing. A good example of this is "Maria". The flow of the song is very impressive. If you break it down, a lot of it is repetitious and the guitar and keyboards often double each other. Yet, the song never feels boring and it continuously glides on.

There are about ten or so Lane songs which are my absolute favourites and which I think are equally good. I don't think I could say one was better than the other, but occasionly I'll find myself listening to one more than others. Right now, the song "Trois Sept Cinq" is getting heavy rotation. The more I listen to it, the more I discover. I just love the keyboard/guitar interplay on this one. When the guitar suddenly comes in, sliding off a note and into a gorgeous melody I am speechles. He has only played a few notes and yet it sounds like nothing I have ever heard before. When you break it down it's all so simple, but that's not the point. What boggles my mind is how he can come up with this stuff! What goes on in his head?

Another good example his the main riff and build up to this riff in "Not Again". It gradually climaxes and then coalesces into utter perfection. It's very uplifting.

I quite like the shift in moods from "Powers of Ten" to "TTF". The former is very bright and happy, reflecting the mood he was in at the point in his life. As his life became more turbulent, a shift in the mood is apparent. The songs on TTF are very introspective and subdued, but not at all blatanly sad or depressing. In fact the mood seems to be poised between happy and sad. Sometimes I can listen to a song like "The Way It Has To Be" and feel uplifted and happy, and sometimes I can fee morose.

However, one thing which I have noticed is apparent in the majority of his songs is something which I find extremely hard to explain. To me, the music conjures up and image of exotic or sophisticated European culture and art; it's as if the music should be the soundtrack to some obscure Italian art film. This mood is particularly apparent in "Suite" from Powers of Ten. I wonder if I am the only one who has noticed this.

Anyway, here is a list of my favourite songs:

Not Again
Illusions
Get You Back
Suite
Esperanto
Paris
Epilogue for Lisa
The Way It Has To Be
Trois Sept Cinq
The Hurt, The Joy
One Note At A Time
Maria
Song for Dianne

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